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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club went into this fixture with identical records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was not much to separate them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but they secured the winner in the closing stages when the Blues defence retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a low shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase fixtures left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, jump up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this continues Chelsea's concerning run of results in all competitions.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four outings.

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five changes for this game as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for important games.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be different but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The ones who played tonight are the ones playing almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.